Macbook Air Restore Drive - How To Format? [Archive]

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AbSoluTc

Oct 23, 2010, 06:59 PM

Is it possible to format the restore drive/disc that comes with the new Air's?

idonotliketostu

Oct 23, 2010, 07:00 PM

Try disk utility app. I think you should make a copy of the software on the usb first with disk utilities before formatting it.

AbSoluTc

Oct 23, 2010, 07:02 PM

I have a copy of the drive. However, I am reading Apples info on the drive and they state it's READ ONLY and it cannot be reformated or anything else. That's crappy.

idonotliketostu

Oct 23, 2010, 07:08 PM

Fonzijr1964

Oct 23, 2010, 07:13 PM

they need to sell flash drives like that

rkmac

Oct 23, 2010, 07:20 PM

they need to sell flash drives like that

That they do. When I saw the little apple usb drives I just knew I had to have one. Alas, they probably will forsake us and not release it... meanies :p

AbSoluTc

Oct 23, 2010, 07:37 PM

When you mean infos, do you mean when you right click on the disk (on the desktop) and "get info"?

Unless they are using a proprietary USB hardware/software you should definitely be able to erase/format/partition in the disk utilities app.

Get Info and Disk Utilities - won't erase it. My Windows machine won't touch it either. Apple states it is read only. I think that is very wasteful in the long run. So, you update your air to Lion and the drive is now useless.

DannySmurf

Oct 23, 2010, 08:37 PM

Get Info and Disk Utilities - won't erase it. My Windows machine won't touch it either. Apple states it is read only. I think that is very wasteful in the long run. So, you update your air to Lion and the drive is now useless.

When you upgrade any Mac to the newest OS, the old DVD that came with it is pretty much useless. How is this different?

AbSoluTc

Oct 24, 2010, 10:35 AM

When you upgrade any Mac to the newest OS, the old DVD that came with it is pretty much useless. How is this different?

It's a write once medium and I would expect it to be. However, the usb drive can be read/write. It's NOT forward thinking. It's land fill, filler now.

Fissure

Oct 24, 2010, 10:39 AM

When you upgrade any Mac to the newest OS, the old DVD that came with it is pretty much useless. How is this different?

Because the "old" DVD is read only and Flash Drives generally aren't. Meaning why waste a 8GB Flash Drive by making it not re-usable when Lion comes out or for anything else for that matter.

diablo2112

Oct 24, 2010, 11:02 AM

Pretty silly comment. The advantages of making the USB drive FAR outweigh any disadvantage in being able to overwrite the data. What does a 4GB USB stick cost today? $10? Given the critical nature of the software on the Apple-supplied USB, why risk overwriting it? Apple maintains configuration-control over the stick as read-only. Consider the security risk if you could overwrite this file?

hfg

Oct 24, 2010, 11:22 AM

I had assumed it was probably made with a low cost ROM or EPROM media rather than expensive Flash. That is effectively no different than the distribution DVD media vs. DVD-RW. Yes, you can't update the media, but most users probably wouldn't do that anyway.

You can always make your own current OS install USB drive. I do that anyway from DVDs, since USB drives are so easy to carry along in case something happens mid-trip and restoring the base level OS is the only salvation.

-howard

DannySmurf

Oct 24, 2010, 12:56 PM

Because the "old" DVD is read only and Flash Drives generally aren't. Meaning why waste a 8GB Flash Drive by making it not re-usable when Lion comes out or for anything else for that matter.

... so every recovery DVD is a wasted 9.7GB because it's a recordable disc instead of a rewritable disc?

There is ZERO difference between this and the recovery DVDs that have always been shipped with Macs. Except, of course, that a USB drive is smaller and results in less wasted plastic.

Seems like you're just looking for something to complain about.

bcaslis

Oct 24, 2010, 01:27 PM

It's a write once medium and I would expect it to be. However, the usb drive can be read/write. It's NOT forward thinking. It's land fill, filler now.

Why on earth do you want to erase this? You will need for reinstallation of the OS and iLife. If you have a copy fine, but it's read only for a reason. The same way that the restore DVDs with other Macs are read only.

tivoboy

Oct 24, 2010, 01:44 PM

I dont' want ilife on my air, but would rather put it on my MBP. Is there any way to do this with the restore USB stick?

AbSoluTc

Oct 24, 2010, 02:43 PM

paepcke

Oct 24, 2010, 02:58 PM

It just seems wasteful to not be able to reuse the usb drive honestly. Is Apple going to ship out new usb drives to all the Air users to update them to Lion when it comes out? How does that work?

Why should they ship out new usb drives to all Air users? Do they ship out new CD´s to all MB/MBP/iMac/Pro Users every time they update the OS?

No. Let´s see. How hard can it be to predict the options that users will have when they BUY the Lion update? Yes, maybe they can choose between CD or USB Key (and hopfully AppStore online).

ciaran00

Oct 24, 2010, 03:00 PM

Maybe the flash in it is really really cheap and doesn't have that may write cycles

paepcke

Oct 24, 2010, 03:06 PM

Maybe the flash in it is really really cheap and doesn't have that may write cycles

Yes,
there are a lot of possibilities, including that this is only pure cheap ROM (read only memory) or maybe it is rewritable (but with limited write cycles as you stated) and can be only updated by an special DRM tool from the AppStore.

Corndog5595

Oct 24, 2010, 03:10 PM

Get Info and Disk Utilities - won't erase it. My Windows machine won't touch it either. Apple states it is read only. I think that is very wasteful in the long run. So, you update your air to Lion and the drive is now useless.

Every DVD you buy or burn is Read Only (after it is written). This is a restore disk. They are just preventing people from:
1.) Patching the install (think Hackintosh)
2.) Accidentally formatting the drive

bcaslis

Oct 24, 2010, 03:16 PM

1 - I don't have a MacBook air. I have only the 8 gig restore disc.

2 - You CANNOT install iLife that comes on the restore disc onto any other machine except for the machine it was made for (MacBook Air). It won't work.

It just seems wasteful to not be able to reuse the usb drive honestly. Is Apple going to ship out new usb drives to all the Air users to update them to Lion when it comes out? How does that work?

How did you get the USB stick if you don't have the MBA? It only comes with it. If you look at it you'll see it's not a normal flash drive. It's probably ROM, just the the DVDs that ship with Macs.

Silliest thread I've ever seen.

AbSoluTc

Oct 24, 2010, 04:21 PM

Some of you are wound a wee bit tight. No need to jump down someone's throat here. It was a simple question.

Lots of good views on the matter that make sense that I did not think of. IE - ROM. Which would make writing to it over and over again impossible.

What's interesting though, we have micro SD cards that are 8gig + that can be read/written to that are just as small as the USB drive Apple ships. I guess they locked it to prevent accidental deletion of the restore disc. Make sense.

Anyways - question answered.

siiner

Feb 12, 2011, 06:57 AM

AbSoluTc

Feb 12, 2011, 09:54 AM

Thanks for the info. Follow the instructions and it only took a couple of minutes. I now have a read/write Apple usb drive. It's fast as hell too.

tivoboy

Feb 13, 2011, 06:25 AM

anyone know how to get the ilife install to work for another machine? I took it OFF my MBA11 13" but would like to put it ON my MBP.

Heinekev

Feb 23, 2011, 03:46 PM

Thanks for the info. Follow the instructions and it only took a couple of minutes. I now have a read/write Apple usb drive. It's fast as hell too.

hmm, tried with 4 different restore discs and it didn't detect any of them

edit: nevermind, was the broke PC I was using. Dell. Go figure. Did the operation in a VM and now I have a writable Apple USB disk.

Awesome!

Also, this link will make it easier: http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbbs.weiphone.com%2Fread-htm-tid-1486864-page-1.html

(Google Translate breaks the ability to download the attachment... you'll have to go to the untranslated site to successfully download the attachment)

skinny*k

Mar 8, 2011, 04:24 AM

Heinekev said:
Google Translate breaks the ability to download the attachment... you'll have to go to the untranslated site to successfully download the attachment

At the ‘untranslated site’ I got a Chinese message and no link, so I copied the ‘link’ text
SM3255AB_J0818.zip
and Googled it:

This one worked for me, but may change: 

Listed as: MacBook Air Tool
[INDENT]http://www.megaupload.com/?d=F3ZXV9JE

No signup if you wait for the regular download, but don’t bother to take the quiz—its a come-on with no answer without your cell-phone number.

Other sites allege a Java version, but they all want to find you a date or something, and your email address. I’d prefer a Java version myself, but I won’t buy Windows for this. If anyone knows of a non-Windows tool for fidd’ling with these drives I’d like to know (Linux is good, too).

I have edited the translated page to make a more readable and coherent document, and will post it here if anyone is interested.

As a not-irrelevant aside, while I was playing around with all of this, I copied some other software onto a 4 Gig flash drive to install on my Air, and the finder crashed and restarted when the copy finished. Every time I tried to open the flash drive it did nothing except cause the finder to restart... Hmmmm... I finally resorted to Disk Utility to reformat the drive, as FAT of course, and that failed three times. I tried formatting to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and my 4 Gig drive formatted to 7.62 Gigs!

For compatibility, though, I do need the drive to be FAT, so I tried that again, and it worked, and I wound up with a 6.83 GB FAT drive. This got me thinking that the memory chip in the drive just hadn’t made the cut to be an 8 GB drive, so it was formatted to 4, and I’m wondering how many other flash devices might have more than their stated capacity, and how many are compatible with the above tools. I’m meaning to have me some fun.

skinny*k

Patrick946

Mar 8, 2011, 09:45 AM

That's awesome news, I'm definitely going to copy the card over to an external hard drive and use the USB card as an flash drive. Keep us updated on how well it works vs. store bought flash drives.

sufferrar

Mar 9, 2011, 06:37 AM

skinny*k

Mar 9, 2011, 12:12 PM

I was thinking the same but it occured to me that this drive will be more valuable as a restore drive as apple meant it to be.
Maybe when lion comes out I will then be more open in finding a way to convert the drive to a restore drive with lion instead of snow leopard. Only then it may be worthwile to write to it.

I'm not saying that anyone SHOULD do this; its just nice to know that you can.

After your original install, you might spend hours setting up your computer to your satisfaction, then install system upgrades and etc. After that, the only real use for the install drive is to change your password if you forget it; generally, its better to use a Time Machine (or other) backup to restore your system if needed, so you don't have to spend all of that time setting up again.

Before reformatting the install disk, you SHOULD create a disk image of it, just in case; you can restore from the image or reinstall it on the restore drive, or on any other drive.

Back in the day, install disks were floppies, and CDs, DVD, and now these 'non-writeable' drives help prevent user accidents—I think thats Apple's motive here; no more, "Help! I've erased my install drive and I can't get up!" customer assistance. Make the disk image anyway; you could lose that little stick.

I think that the really cool thing about this is that the drive becomes a useful object instead of being quickly condemned to become landfill—I still have the stack of disks that came with my G4; useless junk, really.

I also don't keep an install drive with a laptop; I won't give a thief a key to my stuff. If a disaster occurs when I'm out and about, I can wait to get back to my desktop for repairs (yes, I know that YMMV).

I'm thinking that Lion will come out on this type of disk anyway, and if thats true your original install disk is history, as you seem to understand. This isn't a big deal; you just reduce landfill and save $ on an 8 GB drive. I'm more excited about the potential of storage space expansion of other drives, as I mentioned above—it intrigues me that these memory devices have more potential than claimed.

Whatever you decide to do, have fun!

skinny*k

Edit: Another idea...

Go ahead and get the software now—you don't have to use it—it may shortly disappear from the universe.

skinny*k

MiBook84

Mar 10, 2011, 04:00 PM

I bought this which is about the same size as Apples MBA-key. http://www.transcendusa.com/Products/ModDetail.asp?ModNo=181

Cr4s5

Apr 13, 2011, 09:49 AM

Here is the link with instructions.

http://bbs.weiphone.com/read-htm-tid-1486864-page-1.html

translated the instructions read.

1 download attachments.

2 Extract the folder to run after the sm32Xtest. Exe file, it is best to run with administrator privileges.

3 Insert your Apple system restore u disk.

4 If successful, then you will see appear in the software interface port1 your apple u disk. The following screenshot is not himself, but the content and guiding the same.

5 Click Start, and then wait for the completion is expected about 3 minutes, note that this operation will delete all the data u disk.

6 pop-u disk, then insert the u-hours you will find a 8GB disk can be read by a computer u identified birds.

7 Congratulations, one more apple in the original 8GB U drive.

Feel good about the top 8 friends plus point points, thank you for it! ! ! ! Long live mac Ha ha ha! !

that is the instructions in english. It works to make macbook air usb drive read/write. On chinese page, click attachment download link and then any of the underlined links that are in little window that pops up, to download. Enjoy.

GekkePrutser

Apr 13, 2011, 10:11 AM

After that, the only real use for the install drive is to change your password if you forget it; generally, its better to use a Time Machine (or other) backup to restore your system if needed, so you don't have to spend all of that time setting up again.

If you want to restore a TimeMachine backup on a completely unbootable system, you'll still need that recovery stick to boot off in order to restore the TimeMachine backup.

Also I read that Apple's drive has been tweaked for the system to detect it as a USB-DVD drive instead of a USB-HDD. Because Macs don't boot off a USB-HDD at all. So if that's true you can't put the image you took off that stick on any other stick and boot from it. But I don't have a MBA yet so I'm not sure, maybe they just changed the firmware on the MBA to accept USB-HDD's too.

skinny*k

Apr 14, 2011, 01:32 AM

If you want to restore a TimeMachine backup on a completely unbootable system, you'll still need that recovery stick to boot off in order to restore the TimeMachine backup.

That’s a good point, but I didn’t mean to suggest that everyone go ahead and do this hack now, but after they upgrade to Lion—the drive could then be useful rather than recycled waste, like so many floppies, CDs and DVDs. If anyone had an uncontrollable urge to do this now, the memory stick image could be copied to a DVD (I think that would be dumb, though, but a backup is a good idea).

Also I read that Apple's drive has been tweaked for the system to detect it as a USB-DVD drive instead of a USB-HDD.

I had noticed that the System sees the Drive as a DVD, but I hadn’t given it any thought. It would be interesting to figure out how Apple did that—if we could do it, then we could have bootable flash drives for all of our Macs. :D

Because Macs don't boot off a USB-HDD at all.

Right; it would have to be either a DVD, or look like a DVD to the System.

So if that's true you can't put the image you took off that stick on any other stick and boot from it. But I don't have a MBA yet so I'm not sure, maybe they just changed the firmware on the MBA to accept USB-HDD's too.

Right; it has to be a DVD. The MBA sees the stick as a DVD; like other Macs, it won’t boot from a USB HDD.

skinny*k

john7jr

May 11, 2011, 04:37 PM

The USB drive is firmware flashed to look like a DVD drive. This flashes it back to a R/W USB drive.

You can restore these to a normal USB flash drive (or a USB hard drive) and still boot from it, i've done it.

This is awesome. We have a few of these just lying around... Not anymore, I'm snatching them all up now.

john7jr

May 11, 2011, 04:42 PM

Because Macs don't boot off a USB-HDD at all. So if that's true...

That's actually not true. You can boot from a USB hard disk or USB flash drive, have been able to since Macs went Intel.

I don't even use DVDs anymore. All my installs are on bootable USB flash drives. They install SO much faster!!

=)

WWDC08

Aug 18, 2011, 01:54 PM

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium via VMWare Fusion and i'm having trouble with the USB Drive being recognised with Windows, it can't find any drivers to install it and the Chinese software doesn't see it as Windows isn't installing the drivers. Can anyone help me out?

weinschela

Aug 24, 2011, 03:46 PM

All you need is to download a tool called sm32X. Turn the usb stick back to factory set and enjoy your 8GB apple usb drive.

BTW, if you could read Chinese, this link may help. http://bbs.weiphone.com/read-htm-tid-1486864-page-1.html

Thank you! Worked like a charm. Obviously, you have to have a Windows machine to do it, and yiu need the latest version of sm32xtest but you do get a very nice 8g drive. I turned my osx 10.6 into a Lion boot disk.